Honolulu Museum of Art’s Spalding House to hit market at $15 million

Elite Pacific Properties announced today it is listing the Honolulu Museum of Art’s Spalding House for $15 million.

The museum announced over the summer that its board of trustees had decided to put the historic Spalding House property in Makiki Heights up for sale in order to focus its resources on its main South Beretania Street campus.

The property at 2411 Makiki Heights Drive is being marketed as “an unparalleled opportunity for the discerning art collector or luxury real estate buyer” offering spectacular views of Diamond Head and city lights. It will go on the Multiple Listing Service on Dec. 11.

“This property is every art collector’s dream come true — there simply is nothing else like it on the market,” said Kaminskas in a news release.

Elite Pacific Properties said Spalding House may be purchased and used as a functioning museum, used to house a private art collection or restored to its former state as a private residence.

Honolulu Academy of Arts founder Anna Rice Cooke built Spalding House in 1925 as a residential property, naming it Nu‘umealani, or Heavenly Terrace. Cooke’s daughter Alice Spalding acquired the residential property in 1934.

In 1968 the Honolulu Academy of Arts, now known as the Honolulu Museum of Art, acquired the property at the bequest of Spalding. The property was then sold to Honolulu Advertiser publisher and philanthropist Thurston Twigg-Smith, who lived there several years with his family before gifting the property as the Contemporary Museum in 1988.

The Contemporary Museum operated as an independent museum until it returned to the fold of the Honolulu Academy of Arts as a gift in May 2011.

Elite Pacific Properties said the property sits on 3.4 acres perched above Honolulu, and that there are five gallery rooms equipped with state-of-the art air, humidity and security systems.

The property is zoned for residential use, with the 5,245-square-foot main residence and galleries designated as historic property.

The estate in all offers a pool, auxiliary office spaces, a director’s residence, gift shop, classroom and studio apartment, along with a mature garden.

“This is a beloved property with a storied history in Hawaii,” said Allison Wong, deputy director of the Honolulu Museum of Art in the news release. “We chose Elite Pacific Properties because we are confident in their ability to find the right buyer for this unique opportunity to own a piece of art and community history.”

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